


Skipping Seconds

by Laylah



Category: Heart no Kuni no Alice | Alice in the Country of Hearts
Genre: F/M, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-03
Updated: 2011-02-03
Packaged: 2017-10-15 08:38:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/159030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laylah/pseuds/Laylah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The clocks of Wonderland keep perfect time -- and who should know that better than the clockmaker? -- but Alice's fingers brush his skin and all of the rules change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skipping Seconds

She's made herself quite comfortable here, somehow, even though Wonderland is so different from her home that it should have been a challenge. Julius sips his coffee -- 93 points, he thinks, and getting better every time -- and watches Alice tidy up his workshop. He'd thought it would bother him to have somebody else handle his tools; even Ace, who assists him in his work, only brings clocks for repair and never handles his tools themselves. But Alice is an outsider: outside their limits, outside their rules, outside the little antisocial habits they've all developed to keep each other at bay.

Alice looks up, and smiles at him. "You look happy," she says.

"Do I?" Julius asks. "I have you to thank for that, then." He takes another sip of his coffee, sets it down on the desk, and smiles back at her. "You've changed all of us, I think."

"I haven't done anything so strange," Alice says. "But if I've made you happy, I'm glad." She comes over to stand beside him, then reaches out and tucks a loose strand of his hair behind his ear. "I like seeing you smile."

Julius's clock stutters, seconds tripping over each other in his chest. The clocks of Wonderland keep perfect time -- and who should know that better than the clockmaker? -- but Alice's fingers brush his skin and all of the rules change. "Alice," he says, and perhaps he means for his tone to be a warning, but that isn't what comes out of his mouth at all.

Alice's cheeks turn pink, but she doesn't take her hand away. "You've been so kind to me," she says. "Sometimes you're cranky, and I think once or twice you've tried to scare me off," she adds, before he can protest that she must be mistaken. "But you're still much kinder than anyone realizes you are."

"I owe it to you," he says, turning his head despite himself to press his cheek into her palm. "You brought kindness here."

His clock counts off the seconds -- five, then ten, and then Alice is leaning in close to press her lips to his and for a few seconds it feels as though Julius's clock stops in his chest. Her mouth is soft and faintly sweet, as if he can taste the cream and sugar she puts in her coffee, and she closes her eyes as she leans into him.

For a moment all he can think is, _of all the role-holders, you chose me?_ but he pushes that thought aside, and kisses her back. She hums in her throat, and the sound plays along his nerves; he'd thought that he liked seeing her happy, but he hadn't known how much he would _feel_ every expression of her pleasure. But they have their purpose, just as Julius's clocks do: a clock's purpose is to count time, and a role-holder's purpose is to win the outsider's heart.

Alice pulls him closer, her hands gripping his lapels, even though he towers over her when she drags him out of his seat. She has to stretch up to kiss him when he stands, nearly bent backward over his desk, but still, she is the driving force, the one who makes this -- _everything_ \-- happen. The ticking of Julius's clock feels loud in his chest, and he would swear its pace is erratic, for all that clockwork shouldn't be capable of such a thing.

But Alice is an outsider, and she changes everything.


End file.
